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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
1,200
VOLUNTEERS 2019
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Individual volunteers and groups of all types make an impact for good in the New Orleans community.
Community engagement and community building are major components of Green Light’s rain barrel program. In 2019, Green Light hosted more than 1200 volunteers to assist with preparing, painting and installing rain barrels, among other activities.
Throughout the year, Green Light worked with volunteer groups of all types and sizes, including large-scale off-site events in a collaboration with Hands On New Orleans and national organizations such as Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream and Ernst & Young, which provided 140 volunteers each.
In addition to large groups, Green Light works with small groups and individuals. For example, University of North Texas students spent a week working with Green Light over spring break. In June, Green Light hosted a San Francisco-native named Afshan who was celebrating her 30th birthday with seven of her best friends in New Orleans. “Spending time giving back to the community of New Orleans was a responsibility, one my friends and I engaged in with happiness,” Afshan said. “Green Light New Orleans provided me and my group of seven close friends the opportunity to engage with the New Orleans community in a meaningful way painting rain barrels to beautify the city.” Green Light also hosted a team of students from Western Michigan University in the last week of December. Those volunteers helped Green Light install the 340th and final rain barrel of the year. One of the unique aspects of Green Light’s program is that the barrels are painted by local artists and volunteers. Green Light hosted dozens of artists and volunteers in 2019. This included 55 volunteers from Entergy, who assisted the organization by cleaning, preparing and painting barrels.
